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What a great achievement for a first novel.
Daniel lives with his Daddy and sister Cathy in a house that they build in a copse. They are very self-sufficient and have great respect for nature around them. Problem is that building a house on land that they do not own places them outside the law and because the landowner, Price, is involved in heaps of dirty business himself, the problem is sorted outside the law as well.
Price acts like a feodal overlord. Interesting detail is that the land used to belong to the children's mother.
The characters are very distinct and there are some gender issues in the younger generation.
Daniel is aware that he is not a regular man, but is never really forced to choose or examine, because the lack of contact with boys the same age.
Cathy is very much aware that she's turning into a woman and of the fact that women are prey and she'll be at a disadvantage because of her softening body. She will work hard to counter this.
On the other hand there are the parents the boar and the whore. Mother was likely a prostitute. Daddy is both uber manly with his stature and strength, a man providing for his family with his bare hands, settling scores for others, but also powerless, living on land that he doesn't own. Are his children his?
To the children he is the gentle giant, to others a famous price fighter. There is a very intime scene where the children are cutting Daddy's hair and beard.
Then there's also Vivien who provides the very feminine note with her pronounced hips and cosy home.
I loved the language of the book. The dialect is present and adds character, but is not obtrusive. I found especially the beginning overly lyrical with lots of similes. It didn't particularly bother me that the narrator is a well-versed 14-year old boy with a minimum of formal schooling.
Through the language you can smell the rotting leaves and feel the raindrops fall from the trees with a gust of wind.
One of the last scenes reminded me of Jane Eyre:
Spoiler
Daniel thinks everything is settled at last with him owning the land, butdisaster strikes, he runs and regains consciousness out in the
fields that he ran to. Like jane thinking she finally would be happy with a husband and having her hopes smashed running away stranding in the moors.